Not Us Anymore
by Ruselly Adita
Summary: They thought it's everlasting but things most often don't go according to our wish or the way we plan it to be. Same happened with them. They were left being the star-crossed-lovers. Two-shots.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N :** I feel home, really. It's been probably a year since I last wrote something related to CID. Last week a precious reader asked me to write a one-shot or anything such and so here I am. _Topaz007,_ this one is for you. Hope you like it.

Hope my writing skills haven't gone below average. Do leave your valuable reviews/criticism.

xx

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 **|::| Not Us Anymore |::|**

She stood near the glass window and let the streamed sun ray kiss her. She closed her eyes and squeezed the coffee mug tightly with both her hands and leaned her side on the window frame. Taking a small sip she let out a sound between sigh and snort and shook her head. Where's life taking her? Where does she stand? Leaving her job for her daughter had been the best decision she had ever taken. She wanted to spend all her time seeing her daughter grow. She wanted to live all the moments of her daughter's growing up.

Being a forensic expert had been her dream since her late-teens. But being a mother, she's cherished every moment of it. The first time she took her daughter in her arms was the moment she felt the bliss of motherhood, or wait, perhaps the first time she learned that she was pregnant was the moment. Whatever it was, it meant the world to her.

It has been fifteen years since she and Abhijeet separated and had a divorce. Abhijeet meant the world to her. They were madly in love, or at least she was but then his duty came in between them. All the time. Not that she didn't know about his passion for his job or that their country needed him but somewhere he had forgotten that _SHE_ needed him too. She felt, alone. Even when he was with her, it was his job, crimes, criminals, Daya, Pradyuman and his team was all he could talk about. It was never only them. She had this nagging feeling behind her head all the time that his team was distancing him from her. And when she told him that they were having a baby was the moment he broke her heart into pieces. He told her that he wasn't ready to have a child. He had responsibilities and having a child was not one of his priorities. His words had literally shaken her from within. She had never expected such a reply from him. He loved kids. That was one of the things she loved about him. He was good with kids naturally. Then, she couldn't understand what went wrong. But she knew she wanted this child. Her child if he didn't want it. So she decided to take the step. It took all her willpower to take and stay firm in her decision. Being separated from him. She thought it might change his mind but he took her decision pretty well, which was unexpected for her as well as everything else. She thought he might at least try to stop her. But then that was it. That special something that was in between them, which she thought was love was gone. Tarika was devastated but she had to gather herself for her child and now here she is. Working again. This time she chose to work in a book-store near her home. Because Tanu, her daughter was only fourteen years old (C'mon! She's a mother. Of course fourteen years old is a very young age.) and she didn't want to leave her daughter alone to go to work everyday. She joined this book-store when Tanu turned eight. The store was of an old friend of her, whom she met three years post her divorce to Abhijeet.

"Mum?" Tanu poked her head in the room. She was rubbing her eyes with a hand and the other hand was on the door frame.

"You're up! Morning honey, but isn't it quite early for you to get up?" Tarika raised an eye-brow.

"C'mon mum. I don't sleep that much, do I?" Tanu yawned.

"'Course not. You're early as a birdie!", Tarika mocked. "Come 'ere," she extended an arm and Tanu reached her mother wobbling a bit, still sleepy at 11 o'clock.

"You remember what today is?" Tanu asked.

"How can I ever forget?" Tarika smiled a little to cover the pain that float in her eyes. "It's your father's birthday. And you're gonna be with him for the rest of the month."

"Mum! Only for 5 days", Tanu exclaimed.

"I know I know!" Tarika raised the hand that was holding the coffee mug as if to surrender. "I'm not saying you shouldn't go. It's just, I'll miss you lots is what I meant."

"I'll miss you too mum", she hugged her mother tight.

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Later that day at the bookstore.

Tarika was reading a book leaning against the shelf near the glass window that revealed the busy street to her. Hearing Tanu's laughter she looked up from the book and through the glass window she saw Tanu throwing her arms around her father's waist and her father holding her so protectively as if she was made out of glass. She let out a sigh and for a moment Abhijeet looked through the glass and his eyes met hers but she averted her face, not wanting to see him more than required. He had hurt her worse. Broke her into pieces. That girl, about whom he's so protective now was not his priority once. But here he was, collecting his daughter for the next 5 days for his birthday week celebration. Tanu had been planning about it for months. Tarika still remembered, five months after their separation when she was seven months pregnant with Tanu, Abhijeet came to meet her. He offered her to stay with him till her delivery because it was risky for her to handle everything on her own. She denied but he convinced her by saying that they could initiate the divorce after the baby was born. They lived in the same house but slept in different beds, hardly talked, didn't have lunch or dinner together. They were just under the same roof for _her_ safety was it. And the day Tanu was born, the first time he held her in his arms, she remembered seeing a glimpse of regret in his eyes. And when they filed for divorce he appealed for Tanu's half custody which shocked Tarika nearly to death. "He's trying to steal my daughter from me!" she thought at that moment and firmly declined his request but seeing sincerity in his eyes the judge decided that till Tanu was thirteen years old Abhijeet could meet her in Tarika's presence and Tanu might choose to stay with her father for a few days every month after her thirteenth birthday. Both parties accepted the proposal and here they are now.

The string of Tarika's thoughts broke when Tanu flung her arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek sloppily. "Bye mum. Will miss you and don't worry I'll call you all the time to let you know that I'm okay, okay?"

"Take care of yourself and - " she paused for a moment and added "-and your father."

Tanu nodded and left, leaving a perplexed Tarika behind.

What was that? Why those few moments affected her so much? Was she still in love with him? Well, may be but after all these time. . . she had moved on. No matter what her heart wants the reality is different and that can't be changed. They can never become 'us' again.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N :** Firstly an enormous thank you to all my readers. You sure did light up my day with your wonderful reviews. Anyway, this was suppose to be a one shot but as many of you couldn't get some parts of the story, I decided to put up another chapter that might clear things up a leeeteel bit.

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 **love duo nd crazy for abhirika :** I'm quite intense as a person myself. So yes, not particularly sadness but any intense emotion gets me hard. And I've written happy stories too. You can check them from my profile page. :)

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 **guest21 :** It was _one of the reasons and_ _ **NOT**_ _the only_. As I've mentioned in the story, Tarika started feeling that whatever that was in between them was fading out and I'll explain why they didn't patch up in this chapter. As far as Tanu's concerned Tarika never told her that she was unwanted for Abhijeet at a time. C'mon! No sane mother would say such a thing and break her child's heart and here Tanu _LOVES_ her freaking father.

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 **Guest :** As I said it was NOT the only reason for their divorce. And frankly I don't have much knowledge about laws and stuffs though my mum's a lawyer herself. I just made this thing up. Besides, I believe that when two persons can not or do not want to stay together then they _**MUST NOT BE FORCED**_ to do so. Letting go hurts less.

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 **Abhirika. love :** I have no freaking idea what to do with 'The story of a stormy night'. How to proceed it further. If you have any sort of ideas, please let me know and I might update it as soon s I'm done with my exams.

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 **Vampire Breath :** Oh puh- _lease_ , you're by no means 'a-blank-dumb-creature'. I know what you are. You're an absolute masterpiece. Mwah.

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Anyway all. Thanks for stopping by and showering love and appreciation. mwah.

xx

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 **|::| Not Us Anymore |::|**

The moment Abhijeet's eyes met Tarika's through the glass window, he felt the same pang on his heart that he feels whenever he looks at Tarika since their divorce initiated. He loved her. He admits that he didn't show her how much he loved her often. He thought she knew but no, things needed to be said. She began isolating herself from him, for not telling her how he felt about her, for not giving her the time she deserved, for not making her feel special anymore. Their physical contacts became more routinized and the excitement and passion was no longer there. And then out-of-blue one day Tarika told her that they were expecting a baby and she had passed two months. He was already distracted with this new case which was causing them much trouble as the culprit escaped from their custody and DCP Chitrole was showering them with threats and taunts. So he told her that they weren't ready for the baby yet, at least not him. He still remembered the look on her face when he uttered those words. The pain in her eyes. He knew he devastated her. And she just walked out. _Freaking walked out_ of their marriage. She knew he bloody _loved_ her and she didn't even care so he too decided to play along. He thought may be, just _may be_ staying away from each other for a while might bring back that spark in their relationship. He waited for five months but she seemed to like it the way it was so he went to her and asked her to stay with him till her delivery and after the baby was born they'd initiate the divorce.

"Dad! C'mon, we'll be late for the movie", Tanu yelled rushing towards Abhijeet's car. Her yell brought him back to reality and he too ran to her. Abhijeet held the car's door open till Tanu sat properly and buckled her sit belt up. Then closing the door of her side of the car, he looked through the window for the last time but Tarika wasn't there. He let out a sigh and got in the car and headed towards the mall for his movie date with his daughter. Well, this birthday-week of his will sure be interesting.

"Why on earth did he have to die dad? H-he wa-as 'up-p-pose to be with hi-is son -" Tanu sniffed and rubbed the tissue paper on her nose.

"That's why it's a tragic film Tanu. He was suppose to die anyway. Stop crying, it's just a film", Abhijeet wiped the tear drops from his daughter's cheek and patted on her shoulder awkwardly.

He looked at her and remembered the first time he held her in his arms. She was so small. She had Tarika's dusky skin tone and her curly hair and his black eyes. That small thing was staring at him with it's big black eyes and then yawned. That was the moment it struck him. He was responsible for this little creation of God in his arms. She was a part of him. He regretted what he had told Tarika about having a baby. He wanted to take his words back but what is said can't be taken back and he wanted to die for destroying their marriage with his own hands. But he wanted to be with his daughter. He wanted to see her grow up, feed her, install values and morals in her, see her speaking her first words and most of all he wanted to protect her from all evils. He wanted his wife back but the way Tarika looked at her those days, made his skin crawl. He knew she hated him for everything. She never told him but he just knew. That was the reason he sought Tanu's half custody. He thought _may be_ things between them might get better whilst Tanu's growing up. But he was wrong, _again_.

"Want some ice cream?" Abhijeet asked, not knowing how to stop his teenage daughter from shedding tears over a stupid tragic film.

"Yeah, I guess that might help", Tanu replied, squeezing the fluffy cushion close to her heart.

Abhijeet nodded and went in the kitchen to get some ice cream for both of them. His daughter was getting old each day. The other day she was talking about this guy in her class who has a guitar and is an amazing singer PLUS he looks good AND was interested in photography. In fact he took some photos of her during a recent field-trip and as much as Abhijeet hated to admit, those photos were _ah_ -freaking- _mazing_. That guy sure knew how to woo a girl. God! He didn't see this coming and had no idea what to do. How to handle his daughter. He knew it was her crazy hormones that made her say all that but she did say he's ' _cute-and-freaking-handsome_ '. He used to be the only ' _handsome_ ' guy in her life and now there's this singer guy, his new competitor.

Parenting is difficult, he admitted. And it's more difficult when both parents are parenting differently and have no sort of communication. But every experience is a lesson and ACP Abhijeet was still a learner as a parent.

Tarika's absence from his life for the last fifteen years had been a disaster. It killed him inside every moment. Specially when he came home. There was impression of Tarika in every corner. But the love they shared no longer existed, at least from her side. He still loved her but couldn't gather the courage to tell her that. Well, it's obvious, isn't it? It took him nine long years to gather the courage to tell her that he loved her, when he knew she mirrored his feelings and now she didn't even want to look at him.

Life. It's not always fair, is it? But whether life's fair with him or no, if anyone asked, "Have you ever loved Tarika?" His reply would every time be, "Always!"

If anyone asked, "Do you regret having Tanu?" He'd always say, "Never!"

But seems like he'll never get that chance.

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 **Note :** Hope you got a clearer image of the situation now. I had to re-write this story twice. Both times I forgot to save the edited versions and BAM! Everything gone.

And about the last two lines. I DON'T OWN THEM. I just love to quote this 'Always' dialog of Snape. It's the most powerful word in the world for me. I love him. :')

Anyway, let me know your thoughts and ignore if there's any grammatical mistakes.

xx


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